Indianola officials report mostly flat health-plan costs after joint meeting with IMU board
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Summary
Mayor Steve Richardson told a podcast audience that a joint meeting with the Indianola Municipal Utilities Board and broker Holmes Murphy produced largely positive insurance-renewal news: employee contributions will remain mostly flat, dental and vision rates are expected to fall, and the city's self-funded reserve is healthy.
Mayor Steve Richardson said a joint City of Indianola and Indianola Municipal Utilities Board meeting with insurance broker Holmes Murphy produced mostly favorable news about employee benefits and plan renewals.
Richardson, speaking on the Indie Unplugged podcast, said the city's self-funded insurance pool has a "very healthy" reserve balance and that employee contributions will remain "fairly flat" for the coming year. He said dental costs are expected to fall by about 3 percent and vision costs by about 9 percent, while medical rates are expected to remain largely unchanged pending final numbers from Holmes Murphy.
The meeting covered the city's shared insurance pool, which Richardson said was created with other Warren County cities in the 1990s. "That has provided some great opportunities for not only the city of Indianola overall, but also for our staff and keeping our rates fairly level and competitive," he said.
Richardson said the city intends to continue some health savings account (HSA) contributions that it has provided in prior years, while basic life and short- and long-term disability plan rates "are gonna stay the same." He characterized the overall outcome as a win given broader trends of rising personal insurance costs.
The mayor said final renewal numbers from Holmes Murphy were expected within about a month and that enrollment would follow. He also said the council and IMU board members left the meeting "very united." The podcast did not record a formal vote or provide finalized plan documents.
Richardson's remarks about the insurance fund and renewals came during a summary of the previous evening's special city council meeting and joint session with IMU; he directed listeners to the City of Indianola website for his mayor's memo and further details.
Less critical details: the podcast host, Aaron Young, noted the city publishes a "mayor's memo" and other resources online, and Richardson encouraged employees and residents to consult those materials for the final figures.